English Café: Notify or Announce

Advanced Details: Notify or Announce?

Why is the following sentence wrong?: This problem has been notified to the vendors.

Notify means to give (someone) notice of (something), i.e., inform someone of something.

• We must notify our customers of any changes.
• The safety officer notified all personnel of the accident.
• Earlier this year, they were notified that their homes were to be cleared away.
• They must notify police about where they live and their movements.
• We have notified the vendors about this problem.

Announce means to say something, i.e., say something to a person(s), usually publicly.

• They announce the next station, and the train begins to slow down.
• The government announced a cut in taxes.
• PTTEP announced plans to expand the size of its operations abroad.
• The company’s senior vice president will announce her retirement next week.
• We announced this problem to the vendors.